Scope and Content Note

This series contains materials related to Hartsfield's political campaigns from 1932 to the 1970s. Materials include correspondence; campaign lists, schedules, and notes; financial records; campaign advertisements; newspaper clippings; political cartoons; and speeches. The series also contains materials Hartsfield and his campaign staff collected about opposition candidates. Arranged by election, the series ranges from one of Hartsfield's earliest elections as the Fulton County Representative to the Georgia Legislature in 1932 to his campaigns for mayor of Atlanta from 1936-1957.

Correspondence includes letters of support from constituents, memos from political consultants such as Helen Bullard, and correspondence from opposition campaigns sent to Hartsfield. Most letters also include a copy of Hartsfield's response. Campaign lists and notes consist of lists of people to contact and notes about campaign strategy. Newspaper clippings are mostly from the Atlanta Journal and include appearances, editorials, political cartoons, and election results. The series also contains a few original, hand-drawn "Baldy" political cartoons. Speeches include those of Hartsfield and his opposition. Many were broadcast on WSB radio

Materials in this series document issues of public interest in Atlanta. Public housing, annexation, police department policies and activities, and expansion of the airport were all debated in mayoral races. Hartsfield's moderate racial stance was a major election issue as well. After the white primary was outlawed in the mid-1940s, Hartsfield won most of his elections by building coalitions of white and black voters, a strategy documented in the campaign literature and campaign notes in this series.